Shifts in the Social Contract: Understanding Change in American Society / Edition 1

by Beth A. Rubin

Overview

Examining the changes in society in the United States, Beth Rubin explains how the current era differs fundamentally from the post-World War Two period; how and why that change has occurred; and what its meaning is to everyday life. She traces the changes from a domestic to a global economy, the transformation of the workplace, and the impact that these changes have had on how other people are experiencing social aspects of their lives: their families and interpersonal relations, their communities and their experience of the culture of mass society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803990401
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/08/1995
Series:	Sociology Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

PART ONE: SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Society in Transition
The American Dream
Accord in the Post-World War II Era
End of a Century, End of an Era
Implications
PART TWO: FROM INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY TO FLEXIBLE ECONOMY
The Labor-Capital Accord
The Breakdown of the Accord
The Emerging Economy
Conclusions
PART THREE: WORK IN THE FLEXIBLE ECONOMY
Labor Market Segmentation
Work in the Accord Years
The Stable Workplace
Work in the Post-Accord Years
The Flexible Workplace
The Challenge to Education
Conclusions
PART FOUR: FLEXIBLE FAMILIES
From Pre-Industrial Families to Modern Families
Accord-Era Families
Forming Flexible Families
Conclusions
PART FIVE: THE CHANGING ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
Levels of Government Involvement
The Uninvolved State
The Involved State
The Distracted State
Conclusions
PART SIX: CULTURE IN A CHANGING WORLD
Culture
The Creation of Meaning
Forces of Cultural Change
Globalization and Cultural Change
Conclusions
PART SEVEN: TRANSITION TO THE FUTURE
The Decline of the Postwar Social Contract, Revisited
A New Era of Flexibility
Possible Worlds
Conclusions